In the drive for renewable sources of energy, photovoltaic technology has assumed a preeminent position as a cheap renewable source of clean energy. In particular, solar cells based on the compound semiconductor copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) used as an absorber layer offer great promise for thin-film solar cells having high efficiency and low cost. Of comparable importance to the technology used to fabricate thin-film solar cells themselves, is the technology used to collect current from the solar cells and to interconnect one solar cell to another to form a solar-cell module.
Just as the efficiency of thin-film solar cells is affected by parasitic series resistances, solar-cell modules fabricated from arrays of such thin-film solar cells are also impacted by parasitic series resistances. A significant challenge is the development of solar-cell, current collection and interconnection schemes that minimize the effects of such parasitic resistances. Moreover, the reliability of solar-cell modules based on such schemes is equally important as it determines the useful life of the solar-cell module and therefore its cost effectiveness and viability as a reliable alternative source of energy.